Never Again
by Katsuko1978
Summary: "I'm never gonna see him again." Written for tf rare pairing's Missing You challenge and rated for minor TF swearing.
1. Part One

**Disclaimer:** Transformers © Hasbro  
**Warnings:** Angst. Holy mother of tacos, the angst.**  
Notes:** Written for **tf_rare_pairing**'s May Challenge. This is still somewhat in progress, so it'll get longer. The challenge is located at community(dot)livejournal(dot)com/tf_rare_pairing/106748(dot)html.

Separation by time or distance? I'll raise you by an alternate universe.

**Units of Measure:** 1 vorn = 83 stellar cycles; 1 stellar cycle = 1 year

* * *

_**Never Again**_

When Cliffjumper suddenly reappeared after being missing and presumed deactivated after two full vorns, he had changed.

For one, he was quieter than he had been before, not really attempting to interact with the mechs he'd lived and worked beside for millions of vorns before his disappearance. He was overtly cautious around them, almost as if he wasn't certain of his place in the world any longer and waiting for the other brake pad to drop.

Then there was the way he outright avoided certain mechs. He was wary around nearly everyone, true, but he went out of his way to keep from crossing paths with Sideswipe or Sunstreaker, and at least one time he'd turned and walked the other way when Red Alert had approached him in the halls. It was almost disturbing, to be honest, that he seemed to be avoiding those three in particular, as if he equated their alt modes with some memory of his 'missing time' that distressed him.

It took nearly six months before he would speak about where he had been, and the story was disturbing enough that Ratchet had ordered him to medbay for a full maintenance check. The idea that there was an alternate timeline where the Autobots were worse than any Decepticon and the Decepticons were trying to defend both Earth and neutral Cybertron was unbelievable, but Cliffjumper stuck to his story no matter how often he was asked to explain it just one more time.

The changes that Ratchet noted during his examination of the minibot, however, he kept to himself.

Cliffjumper had aged while he was in that twisted universe, that was a given. Yet where he'd been missing for two vorns, he had aged five. He'd received at least three upgrades during that time, including a more advanced jet pack mod. The most troubling change, the one that had worried Ratchet and caused him to keep the minibot for a few cycles of observation, was that his spark frequency was drastically altered.

Every spark he'd ever seen, including Cliffjumper's before his disappearance, was positively charged to the point where electrons were either completely absent or minimal at best. Upon examining the minibot after his return, however, the charge to his spark was no longer pure-positive. Cliffjumper's spark still contained a highly positron-based charge, but almost half of the charge now contained electrons. It was almost pretty in a way, bright white-blue with the harsher red-black sparking randomly throughout, but the medic in Ratchet worried that it was a sign of a virus at first.

At first.

Ratchet wasn't a stupid mech. He knew that there were very few things that would cause a mech or femme's spark frequency to change drastically. He had had to take more than a few rescans of patients after they'd bonded, and almost every single one of those wound up with some aspect of their mates' frequency encoded within their own sparks.

He dutifully recorded the frequency change into Cliffjumper's medical records and turned back to his patient. He wouldn't ask otherwise, but Ratchet needed to know in order to fully monitor the minibot in the cycles to come.

"Cliffjumper," he said, tone quiet and empathetic, "when you were in that 'mirror' universe... did you bond with anyone?"

The minibot was silent for a moment before he looked up and gave the medic a small, sad smile. "Yeah," he replied, sounding very tired and lost, "and now, I'm never gonna see him again."

Ratchet could only watch as Cliffjumper pushed himself up from the berth and slowly left the medbay. It was probably horrible for him to think it, but the medic felt that a kinder fate would have been if the mech had offlined in whatever mishap had brought him back to them.

At least then he wouldn't be suffering.

_TBC..._


	2. Part Two

**Disclaimer:** Transformers © Hasbro

**Units of Measure:** 1 vorn = 83 stellar cycles; 1 stellar cycle = 1 year; 1 joor = 6 hours

* * *

_**Never Again**_

Nearly one stellar cycle had passed, and even now the Decepticons were still looking for any sign of their missing comrade. There was nothing coming out of Iacon, although they were positive that if Optimus Prime had gotten hold of Cliffjumper he would have arranged a public execution long ago.

Plus there was the fact that Sideswipe was still online and... functioning.

The mech was almost a shadow of who he had been, however. Sideswipe would go into battle, of course - the Autobots were still hanging onto the footholds they had, unwilling to compromise with the Decepticons in spite of them controlling the majority of Cybertron - but it was clear that his ember just wasn't in it. He tended to forget to make sure his backstrut was covered, and as a result he kept coming back with more injuries than the rest of the army.

It was becoming a chore to make sure that the mech was properly refueling, a task that had been delegated almost fully to Dead End by this point. Dead End was the only mech who didn't let Sideswipe's depressive state distract him from his task, and he wasn't above using the phrase _but would Cliffjumper want you to do this to yourself?_ in order to make the Lamborghini listen to him.

The thing that frightened Galvatron, though, was the fact that Sideswipe seemed to be on the verge of giving up. The Constructicons assured the Decepticon commander that his frontliner's ember was still as strong as ever, reddish-black shot through with the brighter blue that told them Cliffjumper was still online wherever he was, but the mech himself was drifting into apathy without his mate.

The fact that they'd managed the bond was almost miraculous in itself. Cliffjumper's ember was positively charged and there were still trace amounts of tachyons in his energy field even after three vorns, while Sideswipe's had held the negative charge like all mechs and femmes from their universe. Hook had supposed that the chances were good that their embers would not only repel one another but would quite likely deactivate the pair of them in the attempt.

They hadn't listened, though, and gone ahead with it anyway.

The bonding process had knocked them both into temporary stasis for nearly ten joors, but when they came back online Mixmaster confirmed that the bond held. Both Sideswipe and Cliffjumper now possessed proton-and-electron-charge embers, and for the next two vorns there were very few times that they didn't utilize their bond as a tactical advantage against the Autobots.

Then Cliffjumper vanished without a trace on a routine patrol, and Sideswipe was slowly slipping away from them.

Starscream had a theory and was desperately working on a device with Shockwave that would hopefully track the minibot's energy reading across not only distance but time and space as well. Both scientists thought it possible that Cliffjumper had somehow inexplicably slipped through a temporal displacement much like the one that had brought him to their world in the first place, and if they could pinpoint his location they could attempt to open a portal between his current location and Cybertron to bring him back home.

Galvatron desperately hoped that his science officers were right. He didn't think he could bear losing another soldier after finally coming as close as they were to peace.

_TBC..._


	3. Part Three

**Disclaimer:** Transformers © Hasbro

**Units of Measure:** 1 vorn = 83 stellar cycles; 1 stellar cycle = 1 year

* * *

_**Never Again**_

Cliffjumper wasn't sure just what had happened. One minute he was unwillingly with Red Alert and Prowl investigating a disturbance close to the space bridge - mentally he still thought of it as a stellar spanner, and he wanted to alternately laugh and cry at how much that world had rubbed off on him - the next he was abruptly coming out of emergency stasis lock to the sound of Red's sirens whirring in alarm.

While he didn't pretend to know _how_ Prowl had managed to survive several brushes with deactivation, the minibot just accepted the facts as they were... even if it did feel colossally unfair that Red Alert had his bondmate while Cliffjumper was separated from his by an entire fragging _reality_. The only assurance he had that Sideswipe was still functioning was the other's presence in his spark, and some days that didn't feel like much.

As the minibot was trying to pull his thoughts together, Prowl was taking in the demolished landscape and attempting to calm his mate. He could understand Red's distress, though; apparently the disturbance had caused the space bridge to activate and drag the three of them through to Cybertron. He wasn't sure where they'd wound up, given that anything even remotely familiar had been leveled to the ground. The last time he'd seen their home, even the worse of the damaged cities were nearly rebuilt. This....

"What could have _done_ this?" Red Alert hissed, optics wide in shock. "Most of the Decepticons have either long since left the planet or holed up in Darkmount indefinitely, but this level of destruction is... is..."

"_Not_ destruction."

The two policemechs turned to stare at the third member of their group. Cliffjumper had picked himself up from the ground and was looking at the exact same thing they were... but seeing something completely different. The red mech stepped over a small pile of melted scrap and wires to take a closer look at a post sticking up from the ground, making a faint sound of affirmation.

"This isn't destruction," he repeated, sounding more like the Cliffjumper Prowl and Red Alert both remembered instead of the absent specter he'd become. "This is _reconstruction_ that was stopped abruptly. Work crew probably had to fall back, and fast. We should head for the city, just in case who-or-whatever decides to check for stragglers."

Red Alert turned a questioning look to his bonded, but Prowl appeared to be just as confused as he was. Rather than fry the SIC's processor, the smaller of the pair looked back at Cliffjumper. "Do you know where we are, then?"

The mini nodded. "Yeah, about half a mile outside of Polyhex."

Prowl frowned. "Darkmount's in Polyhex," he pointed out.

"Exactly."

"Then shouldn't we try to get to Iacon?"

Cliffjumper turned a hard gaze to the officers. "Trust me on this: Iacon's the _last_ place we wanna be. Come on." Without another word, the minibot began to pick his way through the rubble, intent on heading into the heart of Decepticon territory. Prowl and Red Alert exchanged concerned looks before following.

It took them nearly a quarter-joor to make it to Polyhex and into the city proper, climbing over and through rubble as they went and having to go around obstructions twice. The security officer kept a close watch on their surroundings the entire time, spotting movement off to the side only once and unable to get a lock on it. Apparently Cliffjumper had noticed it as well, because he signaled for silence and took to moving as slowly and silently as possible. Whatever was going on here, the minibot was on familiar turf even if Red and Prowl were completely lost.

The walls of Darkmount finally appeared before them, and Prowl came to a sudden stop. He'd seen the Decepticon fortress once before, but this... _this_ was _not_ the fortress he remembered. For starters, it wasn't black or deep violet, but instead silver and marred from battle damage. The Decepticon brand was clear as day above the door, but it was the same red as his own Autobrand. And much to the officer's confusion, rather than an aura of hatred the entire building seemed to embody elements of _comfort_ and _home_.

"I get the feeling we're _very_ far from home," Red Alert murmured next to him, optics locked on the Decepticon brand.

Prowl started to respond before realizing that something was missing. He turned and scanned the area visually then looked back at his bondmate. "Where's Cliffjumper?"

"Who wants to know?" a harsh voice growled from behind them.

As one, the policemechs turned and shutterblinked in surprise. The mech holding them at riflepoint was at once familiar and a stranger. The frame was one that they both knew, one that Red Alert shared as well, but green and grey took the place of red and black. Red optics glared at them instead of blue, and there were two brands on his chestplate: a purple Autobrand rent through with a nasty, partially-healed gash, and a smaller red Decepticon brand centered just below it.

"I'll ask you one more time," Sideswipe growled, optics narrowing. "Who the slag are you, and where is my mate?"

_TBC..._


	4. Part Four and Epilogue

**Disclaimer:** Transformers © Hasbro

**Units of Measure:** 1 vorn = 83 stellar cycles; 1 stellar cycle = 1 year

* * *

_**Never Again**_

He might be prone to occasional fits of paranoia, but no one could ever say that Red Alert was unobservant. While the strange mech with the familiar face spoke, the security officer was taking in all the information he could in just a few seconds.

The mech was a fighter; the scarring and dents to his plating stood as testament to that fact. He was not angry, but stressed and worried; Red recognized the signs having seen them more than once in his bondmate. And as the final note that spurred the white Lamborghini's next actions, the mech threatening them had the same haunted, empty look in his optics that Cliffjumper had sported up until they'd arrived wherever-the-pit they were now.

"Calm down, please," Red Alert said, tone even and non-threatening as he ignored the stunned look Prowl turned towards him. "We're friends of Cliffjumper's, and we were just with him a moment ago."

The Sideswipe doppelganger continued glaring at them but dropped the rifle so that the barrel was pointed towards the ground instead. "That doesn't exactly answer my questions, wise-aft," he groused. "I'll give you the benefit of the doubt for now, and only 'cuz you're sporting _red_ Autobrands. But if I think you're fragging with me—"

The threat was cut off by a soft pulse of displaced air, and all three mechs turned to look towards the source. Both Prowl and Red Alert were a bit put off by Skywarp's arrival, if only because the seeker they knew of appeared in a rapid flash of light and disappeared the same way; this version sported silver plating in place of purple and seemed to melt into view from the shadows. Pale blue optics focused on the Autobots for a moment before apparently dismissing them as no threat and turning instead to Sideswipe.

"Lord Galvatron wants you to move your skidplate and get back inside ten seconds ago," the seeker drawled calmly, seeming almost bored with playing messenger bot. "Also, Starscream says _you're welcome_ and Shockwave says _please don't hit me in the face._"

"You get weirder every time you open your mouth," the green Lamborghini replied, both annoyed and confused by Skywarp's delivery.

"Don't slag the messenger, I'm just doing what they ask of me," the jet said with a shrug before stepping forward to rest one hand on Sideswipe and the other on a wary Prowl. "Grab your mech there and we can shift."

_Shift_, it seemed, was a more appropriate word than _teleport_ in this case. No sooner had the Datsun wrapped an arm around his mate's waist than the landscape around them start to fade out, the interior of a room simultaneously fading into sight. It was more than a little unnerving, and made Prowl absently wonder if the process happened just a little faster for his world's Skywarp.

As bizarre as the experience was, he had time to take note of the fact that they were arriving in what seemed to be Darkmount's command center, that he could pick Galvatron and Starscream out almost immediately even if they had different colour schemes than the versions he was familiar with — ignoring the fact that his world's Starscream was still presumed to be deactivated, of course — and that apparently his missing companion had either found a door _really_ fast or bumped into Skywarp when he had gotten separated from them.

Apparently Prowl wasn't the only one who took note of Cliffjumper's presence. The instant that they had finished shifting into the room, Sideswipe knocked Skywarp's hand aside (prompting a sarcastic _thank you, Skywarp, you're welcome, Sideswipe_ from the annoyed seeker) and started across the room towards him. The minibot met him about halfway, and if there had been any remaining doubts in the policemechs' minds regarding the connection between the odd pair they were instantly laid to rest.

They could both remember holding onto one another that exact same way, unwilling to let go, when they'd been reunited after Prowl's brush with deactivation. Right now, there was no power on Cybertron or any other world that could possibly separate them.

When that fact became clear to the others in the control room — mostly because Sideswipe and Cliffjumper quickly moved on from a locked embrace to a fairly long lip lock as well — a thin, unfamiliar grey and teal mech turned to look at Starscream. Red Alert took note that the mech had a black faceplate with a single sky blue optic set in the center and no other discernible facial features.

"Does that mean no hitting?" he asked the seeker, the voice oddly familiar.

Starscream actually _snickered_. "I think it means Sideswipe will hold off on hitting either of us for being 'stupid, thoughtless brain-bots' for a little while yet, Shockwave. However," he added, turning to face the now stunned Autobots and a vaguely amused Galvatron, "the question now becomes what shall we do about our new guests?"

* * *

_**Epilogue**_

In the end, the decision was a simple one.

Shockwave — and it was still so weird to see a mech that wasn't bulky and purple bearing that designation — and Starscream's theory regarding the tachyon level in Cliffjumper's energy field being the catalyst to shuttle him unwillingly back to his home dimension had proven to be the correct one, and the scientists had worked with Mixmaster to devise a chemical to wipe out the tachyons. The only downside was that if Cliffjumper ingested the concoction, he could never return to his home universe again.

The minibot had simply looked over at Sideswipe, smiled faintly, and said, "So why are we still talking about this instead of me taking it again?"

Red Alert and Prowl were a different story. They'd spoken for a while with Galvatron and discovered that while Cybertron was on the brink of peace, it was going to be some time yet before they rousted the last of the Autobot splinter cells. And while the scientific division had done thorough research in trying to locate Cliffjumper, the process to open a rift to any dimension was not a simple process; in fact, the only reason it had been successful in the first place was because Shockwave had managed to lock onto an active stellar spanner and hijack it for a few seconds. The chances of it happening again soon were very small.

"So, it could be years before we're able to go back home?" Prowl asked calmly, one hand resting on Red's beneath the table.

"From Starscream's calculations, yes," Galvatron replied apologetically. "He asked me to double-check the numbers, and my conclusion is the same as his. Of course, we won't turn you out during the interim; you're welcome to remain in Darkmount or travel to one of our other bases if you like. You won't be expected to fight—"

"I'm afraid that I'll have to insist," Red Alert interrupted, squeezing his mate's hand in return. "It wouldn't be fair to your Decepticons if we just sat around and did nothing while our friend is an active member of your army."

Prowl added, "Tacticians are always an asset, and no matter how good a security system you already have in place, Red could most likely improve it a thousandfold."

The Decepticon commander protested, of course, but the policemechs were adamant about doing their part. In short order, Prowl and Red Alert were _de facto_ Decepticons, although the only ones not surprised by the decision were the couple themselves and their fellow Autobot.

"You aren't planning anything funny, right?" Sideswipe asked them with narrowed optics, one arm draped protectively and possessively over Cliffjumper's shoulders. The minibot rolled his optics but only leaned into the one-armed embrace.

"No," Prowl replied evenly. "We'll fight for the Decepticon cause until the last enemy falls, and only then will we concern ourselves with the possibility of returning to our world."

"It could be a while," Cliffjumper cautioned, absently running his fingers across the transformation seams on Sideswipe's wrist. "It was five vorns before I came close to returning, even if it only took me a stellar cycle to get back home."

Red Alert smiled slightly, not missing the affirmation that this world _was_ his friend's home now. "Then it takes us a while," he said. He didn't have to add that _home_ to him was wherever Prowl was.

From the faint grin Cliffjumper shot him in return before turning to speak quietly to his bonded, it was obvious that the minibot understood exactly how he felt.

_The End_

* * *

**Notes:**  
1. The opening chapter for this story had actually been in my head for — no lie — nearly two months. I had been thinking of writing it just as a one-shot, short angst fic when the challenge was announced. It seemed almost karmic that I hadn't even scribbled a bit of this out yet, so it became part of the overall story.  
2. Once I got partway through the second chapter, I _knew_ that the ending would be a little bittersweet. Cliffjumper was always going to go "home" to Sideswipe, but someone would wind up there with him. I just hadn't decided on the who at that point.  
3. Prowl and Red Alert were my second choice to travel with Cliffjumper. My initial thought was Hound and Mirage, but they have Shattered Glass counterparts who are in the canon, and I didn't think that they would even have two seconds to talk before Sideswipe shot the pair of them. Prowl and Red, on the other hand, don't have canon SG counterparts so they could have been seen as completely unfamiliar.  
4. As for Shockwave, allow me to confirm: yes, I blatantly borrowed his appearance from Animated and changed his optic colour. He doesn't physically appear in the canon from what I've seen (if I'm wrong on this, please let me know!), and I wanted to change him up entirely. Still scientifically-inclined, still soft-spoken, but really slender rather than big and bulky. I love fucking with the status quo!  
5. Skywarp is another non-SG-canon cameo. I decided to play with his ability a bit and slow it down. I... rather think it worked.

And that's all she wrote! I hope you've enjoyed the ride, because I've enjoyed writing this crazy-ass thing.


End file.
